I read Hour 13 of Alpha Teach Yourself French in 24 Hours (ATYF) today. You can pretty much sum it up with the word “prepositions”. That’s what the chapter is about, in gory detail. Oh, there is some vocabulary, as in country, region and city names. And a whole bunch of verbs. But it’s all in order to illustrate prepositions. Srsly.

Prepositions
There are three basic uses of pronouns, or rather two, and then the generic grab-bag when those don’t suit. That is, prepositions are used to work with place, and with time, and then used for some other random stuff, like connecting indirect objects with verbs. And I say “uses”, rather than “classes” or “categories”, because many prepositions have range of meaning spanning these categories (à, de, dans, and après being prime examples). Which makes sense, as even in English, prepositions often relate to a spatial metaphor, which can be used of both time and place.

3 Responses to 45 Days of French – Day 28

I’ve just now happened upon your blog (via your comment at Marc Cortez’s giveaway of Osborn’s commentary on Matthew) and I’ll be checking in periodically. I studied French (as my minor) in college, but I finished in 01 and haven’t kept up with it as much as I should have. I can still read and write it pretty well, and can have simple converstaions, but your posts will be a good refresher. I’ll be taking theological German this summer–have you done any studies there? I took conversational German a few years ago, but I can’t remember much in the way of grammar. Anyway, I look forward to your posts au sujet de français!